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Vive La France!

Location: Pain de Sucre, Les Saintes

Awoke this morning to some delicious French Toast (ironically not from France, which even more ironically is where we actually ended the day) served with a tray of fresh Dominican fruit courtesy of Ivy and Alex. Basic Seamanship class was next on the cards where the crew learned about the various safety equipment on board ranging from fire extinguishers to the different types of Personal Flotation Devices. Following class we had a beautifully calm but relatively quick passage under 4 sails across the water to a collection of Islands known as Les Saintes. Les Saintes are actually part of Guadeloupe which in turn is still under central French Government Control. This is immediately clear when cruising along the coastline and it becomes apparent that you’re looking at what appears to be the quintessential Mediterranean town, complete with red rooftops and brightly colored brickwork. In keeping with Mediterranean tradition the island embraces the lunch time siesta ranging from about 10AM until 3pm (yes it becomes very hard to get anything done outside of these times as the whole town, barring the Gelato cafe and local creperie, turn themselves in for an afternoon nap). After anchoring the boat in a picturesque little bay known at Pain de Sucre, the shipmates spent the afternoon writing oceanography papers or studying for the upcoming seamanship exam. Everyone is very much looking forward to a breakfast of fresh croissants, baguettes and an array of cheeses in the morning and a French Caribbean adventure which will include a night dive.